From Bad Wolf Bay
by Nishh
Summary: Rose and the other Doctor have been given the chance to spend the rest of their lives together, but then the way to the parallel universe is unsealed and Rose is given a choice...
1. A Fairly Clean Slate

And so the Tardis was gone, and my days of wandering the stars were over. I watched it fade, heard that unmistakeable otherworldly noise for the very last time. And the man beside me, the new Doctor, was holding my hand; I could feel his eyes staring at me, waiting for me to turn around and look at him. I couldn't at first – the situation was so strange. It wasn't right; it couldn't be right. This man, this man here, he wasn't my Doctor. He wasn't the one. The one I waited for, and tore the Universe apart to find, this man wasn't him.

But then I turned to look at him, and he smiled that wonderful smile the Doctor had, cupping my face in his hands. There were tears in his eyes.

'It really is me.' He whispered, reassuring me. 'It really is. And now I can spend the rest of my life with you.'

I sighed, and laughed a little. I felt tears sliding down my cheeks: I had been crying for at least ten minutes now without even realising. He pulled a handkerchief from the breast pocket of the blue suit, and dabbed it around my face. From the corner of my eye, I saw my mum roll her eyes and head off for a walk, so as to give us some privacy.

And then he was kissing me again, but it was different this time; it went on and on forever. His hands left my face and one moved towards my waist, the other burying itself in my hair. Our eyes were closed; we clung to each other blindly, and with my arms around his neck, I kissed every part of his skin I could reach, slowly and tenderly. The last kiss I planted on his forehead, the softest of all.

I don't know how long I stood there, holding him in my arms, rocking a little, with his breathing warm against my neck. Eventually, though, we began to feel the cold, and only then did he raise his head and start jumping about a bit to try and warm himself up. We still couldn't take our eyes off each other for long, and neither could we stop smiling.

'We'll need to get out of this place.' he said, 'I suppose we'll have to take a plane, now our higher forms of transportation have vanished into thin air…oh, and we'll need money. Oh dear, do we even have any money?' he asked, looking a little concerned.

'Yeah, we've got a bit. Enough to get us back to Blighty anyway. I saved up a little after you left; it's always been the one thing you never took care of…' I eyed him playfully, tongue between teeth, 'Good thing I thought of that, really, otherwise we'd have had to walk…'

He laughed, and hand in hand, we set off to find my mum, and headed towards the nearest airport without a care in the world.

* * *

'I suppose we'd better find ourselves a house, too.' he mused, absent-mindedly, staring ahead. Several hours on, we were halfway to Heathrow, relaxed and comfortable next to each other on the plane. And our hands hadn't separated once.

All the same, my heart skipped a beat. I hadn't even thought that far, I was just happy that we were properly together at last.

'Oh my god…' I whispered, unable to say anything else, hand cupped over my mouth. He had a definite twinkle in his eye as he leaned towards me a little.

'_Well_, I had the feeling this was a permanent arrangement…' He continued to stare at me, stroking the back of my hand with his thumb. I paused, and then started nodding.

'Yeah, ok. Yeah, we'll get our own house.' I said, still taking it in. He grinned from ear to ear.

'Can we get a car, too? One of those little everyman ones…do they still do the Renault Clio by any chance? Oh, and let's get a dog, I've always wanted a real one…'

'Stop it, Rose, they'll think you're insane!' my mother called from behind us, as I laughed hysterically.

* * *

'We'll need to get jobs, too. We can't stay at my parent's house forever.' I reminded him, as we ascended the massive staircase. 'Even though they're not exactly tight for space…'

'I could work as a real doctor, I haven't done that in a while.' he answered. He was still holding my hand.

'Are you actually qualified to do that?'

'Of course I am! Several times over, in fact, and not just on Earth, either. Not sure I'll be able to put much of it on my application form, though…'

'I could find work in another department store, though I suppose they'll want to know why I haven't been to work in three years.' We had reached the door to my bedroom, where we stopped.

'I'm down the corridor, according to your parents.' the Doctor said quietly, but instead of letting him go, I grinned playfully and pulled him a little closer.

'I don't care. Besides, if this really is a permanent arrangement, they they'll just have to get used to it, won't they?'

Without waiting for his reply, I led him into the room after me, closing the door behind him.


	2. The Problem With Building Stuff

A couple of months later, the Doctor was accepted at a London hospital and I had started working in Hamley's Toy Store, much to my family's amusement. As we were still living under my parents' roof for the time being, we were able to save every penny until we were able to afford a mortgage on a two-bedroom flat. We were offered money by my parents, of course, but it felt so wonderful not to have to depend on them for once that I turned them down.

I came home from work late one evening (a fellow employee had been arrested for possession of child pornography and I had to give a statement as to whether I had seen him molest any of the children customers) to find my Doctor on his back in the kitchen trying to construct a flat-pack Ikea dining table. The incomplete construction only appeared to have two legs – it looked as if it could collapse on him at any moment.

'Oi, do you need a hand with that?' I asked, playfully kicking him with the toe of my boots. He had his glasses on to read the instructions, and I couldn't help noticing that he looked absolutely gorgeous…

'Yeah, could you help me attach that leg? I want to get this done in time for breakfast tomorrow…'

Luckily, I was quite good at all this hands-on sort of stuff (a side-affect of having my mother as my only parent for most of my life; one of us had to be capable), and I lay next to him so I could have a look at the manual.

'Oh come on, this is easy!' I said, as he offered me the screwdriver. 'No wonder you got yourself a sonic one to do everything for you…' It took me less than ten minutes to finish it, and I sighed when I realised that we still had the set of chairs, the desk, the coffee table and the bookshelves still to do, most of which he would insist on doing himself…

'Why were you home so late, anyway?' he asked, changing the subject. He shifted a little closer to me, leaning on my shoulder. I looked at the clock; it was nearly midnight.

'I was right about that Ashley guy, he was arrested today because they found a stack of kiddy porn in his apartment…I had to tell the police whether I'd seen him touch any of the kids at work…'

There was a pause, and then we both started laughing hysterically. Even though the table was complete, we were still underneath it.

'I love you, you know that?' I said very quietly, turning to face him and kissing him on the lips. 'I'm so happy, being with you like this.'

And so we lay there for a while, staring at each other. After what seemed like a long time, he opened his mouth to speak.

'Marry me.' he said, stroking the side of my face. I felt as if an electric current was going through my chest.

'Of course I'll marry you.' I whispered in reply, and before I knew it he was kissing me again. My back ached from lying on the floor for so long, and my eyes felt heavy. I knew he must feel the same way too, having spent the day slaving over dying people. I eased myself to my feet, and he followed.

'Oh my god, I'm getting married.' I said to myself, unable to take it in. 'I'll have to phone my mum, she'll be so pleased for us…'

'In the morning. She'll be grateful for some sleep, especially with Tony waking her up every five minutes…'

* * *

Whilst brushing my teeth, I found myself looking out at what I could see of the stars, which wasn't a lot. I managed to focus on one, a particularly bright one, and I wondered whether the other Doctor, the one who had left me here, was up there. And then I realised that he couldn't be; he wasn't anywhere in my Universe. I hadn't given much thought to him before now, but the idea made me feel very alone indeed, even now. I only looked away when I heard the Doctor, my Doctor, calling me from the bedroom door.


	3. The Nameless Wonder

'Rose! Oh, Rose! Come here, darling! Oh, and we'll have to have an engagement party, of course.' My mum said, letting me go and turning to face the Doctor, who raised his eyebrows. 'We've got to put on a show for the family, and we've got such a lovely big house too…'

I had told her the next morning over the phone, and the next minute she was in our living room (which at least had furniture) with my little brother Tony, the hyperactive one-year old. The Doctor had decided to excuse himself from this conversation and had wandered into the corner in an attempt to stop him trying to climb the potted plant.

'Who gave you that plant, anyway?' asked Mum absent-mindedly. I found it so irritating when she overlooked Tony's bad behaviour; she'd never have let me get away with anything like that.

'Cherie did, it was a housewarming present…she was round the other week, actually.'

'Oh, really…?'

'You should really start disciplining this one, Jackie, he'll be climbing into the dishwasher next.' the Doctor intervened, handing her back her son.

'Come off it, he's only a baby. What do you know about kids, anyway? It's not like you have any of your own.' Mum scowled, and the smile on my Doctor's face vanished, opening his mouth slightly to make some kind of answer. Eager to distract my tactless mother from this awkward subject, I jumped between them and announced that I was putting the kettle on. It worked, of course, and she immediately followed me into the kitchen. I looked behind me to see the Doctor nod, gratefully. He hated talking about his past, it caused him such pain.

When my mother finally left, it had been arranged, largely by her, that there was to be a huge bash at their house next Saturday evening.

'I dunno, have I got anything to wear?' I wondered, and the Doctor just smiled at me, the smile that only belonged to me. What I wore never really mattered to him.

'Although, she was wondering what name to put on the banner -'

'What banner?' he asked, puzzled. I rolled my eyes.

'Yeah, they're going to have a huge banner hanging over the front stairway, just like at my mum's 39th, well, 40th, really…I mean, they can't put 'Rose and the Doctor', that'd just be weird.'

'I'm John Smith now, so I suppose it'll have to be 'Rose and John'. Dr. John Smith. That reminds me, I should invite some of my colleagues, they're a great bunch…Fancy a cup of tea?'

Without waiting for my reply, he went to put the kettle on again. Slowly, I sat down on the new armchair, thinking things over.

'You never did tell me your real name, did you?' I said quietly. He was still blundering about making tea, but I could tell he had heard me.

'No, I didn't.' he replied even quieter, placing a mug on the table beside me, taking care to place a magazine underneath to stop the wood staining. 'Take care, it's hot.'

There was an awkward silence. He sat down on the sofa nearby, but I didn't look at him; I just stared into the opposite wall. Eventually, I spoke.

'How can I marry someone when I don't even know his real name?'

His body stiffened a little, and he leant forward to rest his chin on his fist, covering his mouth with his fingers. There was a sadness in his eyes; he was looking at the floor.

'I can't tell you what my name is, because I don't know.' he said slowly and carefully. 'It's one of the things I lack; the longevity, and the name. _Wow_. I hadn't thought of it until now, funny really…not knowing what your own name is.'

I looked across at him now, I couldn't help it. Sitting very close to him, I pulled him towards me, resting his head beneath mine, over my heart.

'In that case, because you are mine, I hereby officially name you Doctor John Smith. I'm not sure I'll ever call you John, though…'

He laughed, and sat up, kissing my cheek lightly. 'Well, that's that, then. What do you think, should I have a middle name, too?'

'If you want one. Choose one you like.'

'Hmm. Curtis. I've always liked the name…what about Duncan? Vivien! That's a fantastic name! John Vivien Smith; it's got quite a nice ring to it, hasn't it?'

I didn't reply, I was laughing my head off. Messing up his neatly gelled hair, I got up and took a sip of my tea. I would spend the rest of the day looking through the bridal mags mum's friend Anita had leant me. I knew he wasn't all right; he wandered over to the window and stared down at the busy street below, and didn't so much as move for another two hours. I knew I couldn't help him any further. For the first time, I fely genuinely angry with the other Doctor for not telling him. He must have foreseen this; that only a true Time Lord could know what my Doctor's name was.

_He couldn't have wanted me to know_, I thought to myself later that evening. _He never told me who he really was, either._


	4. Meanwhile, in the kitchen :O

'How do I look?' I asked him, checking myself out in the bathroom mirror and leaning in to wipe a tiny smudge of mascara from underneath my lashes. I was wearing a knee-length navy dress with spaghetti straps, and my hair was loosely curled. He smiled.

I had the feeling he was a bit miffed about having to share a bathroom with me at home; here, at my parents' house, he had spent at least half an hour preening. He looked gorgeous as usual, but I just couldn't resist tugging a strand of his gelled fringe out of place as I passed him. He looked genuinely upset about it, too.

'_What was that for?_' he hissed at me as we descended the staircase, trying desperately to smooth it back into place. I just laughed and shook my head.

My dad was waiting for us at the bottom, and he pulled me into a hug; the sort of thing I had longed for when I was growing up. He was still adjusting to the fact that I was his – sort of. There had been a huge discussion as to who should have been invited, as my mother had seemingly risen from the grave and I had appeared, out of nowhere. The official story was that my parents had wanted to keep me quiet, as they hadn't wanted me in the public eye. And my mother never actually died, she just moved out and wanted to start her life again; she had reportedly faked her death in an attempt to start a new life. Tony, of course, had been a successful band-aid baby.

The truth is, people will believe anything. But there were still a few of Mum's friends who wouldn't talk to us and there was certainly a lot of unwanted press. As for me, I had to re-invent a new life for myself. As fate would have it, I ran into some of my old friends like Cherie and that, and I found some excuse for them to get to know me better. It wasn't the same; I couldn't recount any of my memories of us together. But it was a lot, lot better than I had expected.

The first guests rang the doorbell, and my mother strode forth from behind me, dolled up to the nines with Tony on her arm. The butler opened the door for her, and several of Dad's business partners stepped through, with their respective other halves. They all converged on myself and 'John', shaking his hand and kissing me on the cheek.

'When's the wedding?' was the most popular question, to which we replied something along the lines of 'Oh, we haven't decided on a date, but hopefully sooner rather than later…'

I'm usually quite a confident person in myself, but tonight I was terrified in the knowledge that my life was now open to the public eye. Of course, my parents had taken measures to prevent any kind of press coverage, but as the President of Britain was admitted through the front door, I felt even more uneasy. This was most likely for an entirely different reason; whereas Harriet Jones had always been very fond of me in the past, to this version of her, I was merely the lesser known child of some well-connected celebrity. The Doctor placed his hand gently on the small of my back, as a small sign that he was feeling the same way.

After an hour or so, my mother pulled me aside, having spent most of the evening having a good natter with plenty of the guests.

'How are you, Rose? Are you feeling any better?' she asked quietly. 'You don't look nearly as peaky as you did, perhaps it was just a funny turn?'

'You didn't tell me you were ill.' The Doctor said, giving me that dark look of his. I rolled my eyes.

'Yeah, I was throwing up earlier, but I guess it's just something I ate. I probably swallowed some toothpaste or something.' I replied, brushing it aside. He frowned.

'Well, if you're sure. By the way, you'd better keep that one close.' She nodded at my husband-to-be, 'Some of the ladies can't wait to get their hands on him…'

She was off after that, and for a moment the Doctor looked very pleased with himself. He soon turned back to me, though, no doubt to pursue the subject of my episode earlier that day.

'Can I have a word with you? In private, just a quick one.' I began to feel a little uncertain; he had an uncanny knack for predicting oncoming chaos.

Avoiding all possible conversations with the guests, we slipped unseen into the kitchen, which was deserted. He pushed the door shut behind him.

'Right, first things first…' he said, and suddenly he had his arms around me and we were kissing. He was delicious, and to my embarrassment I found myself fighting the urge not to start taking his clothes off.

'I don't know if I mentioned it, but you look fantastic.' he said, when we finally drew apart. 'And this is going to sound really unromantic, but when was the last time you had your period?'

It was then that it clicked into place. There was a long silence while he gave me another one of his long stares (this time a more affectionate one). I put my hand over my mouth.

'_Ages_…oh my god…why the hell didn't I think of that?'

There was another silence. I had imagined this situation before, of course; I had accepted the fact that one day the Doctor and I would have children. But I hadn't imagined finding out like this.

'Is this ok?' I asked tentatively. I suddenly felt very shaky. His face cracked into a smile, and he took both of my hands.

'Yeah. Yeah, this is brilliant.'

'I mean, we're not married yet, and we still don't know when that's going to happen…why didn't we think of contraception? I don't think it even crossed my mind.'

'Well…maybe it never mattered all that much.' He stroked the side of my face, and then kissed me again, lightly.

'I mean, this isn't definite. You know that. It could have just been something I ate, and my period could start tomorrow morning.'

'Yeah.' he said, turning his head to the side a little, trying to look serious. It didn't work, of course; a smile kept breaking across his face.

'Well, for your sake, I hope this is the real thing.' I said, checking that no one was outside the window, listening in. 'We need to make sure though -'

The door opened then, and my mother burst in, with a glass of champagne for each of us.

'_Oi!_ I'll have none of that, you two are supposed to be out there, being sociable! It is your party, after all…here, I brought these for you; you don't look quite merry enough!'

I smiled politely and accepted the glass. Luckily for me, she was pulled off by one of her friends, and she didn't see me pour it down the sink, with the Doctor holding me from behind.


	5. That Bastard Came Back to Haunt Me

The phone rang suddenly, making me jump. I had been watching some sketch show or other earlier, and according to the clock, four hours had passed since. As I opened my eyes, I saw that the channel I had been watching had closed down for the night.

'Rose, it's me – there's been a terrible road accident and it looks like I'm going to be a here a while longer…you would not believe the carnage, there's amputations left right and centre…'

There was an air of defeat in his voice, and I imagined him leaning forward and rubbing his temples with one hand. I felt ashamed for feeling so angry with him earlier when he still hadn't called, and I knew he probably wasn't cutting himself any slack.

'You sound tired, baby. Take a quick break, go and get yourself a coffee and something to eat…' I mumbled quietly, stretching. 'And that's an order – I bet you haven't even sat down yet…'

He sighed, most likely smiling a little. 'Fair enough. How are things at home, anyway?'

There was a pause. I knew he was asking me about our baby; he had become increasingly protective of me since the pregnancy had been discovered, little over a month ago. He had insisted on doing all the necessary scans himself, and had begun phoning me even more often while he was at work. I could sense he was anxious, most likely due to the memories of having lost his children before; for all I knew, the Doctor might have had multiple families across the Universe, and had lost them all to time. It must have meant so much to him to know that we were about to raise a family he could watch grow up, whilst growing old with them.

'Everything's fine, don't worry.' I replied, 'It's half past one already, I hope they send you home soon.'

'Yeah, I know, but I have to do what I can to help…go on, you, go and get some sleep…'

He hung up, and I eased myself off the sofa and carried my empty tea mug into the kitchen.

It was then that I saw him, just standing in the car park on the opposite side of the road. The mug dropped from my hand and shattered across the floor.

He was back.

* * *

'Why?'

I stood facing him in my pyjamas, with my fiancé's coat around me. The air outside was bitterly cold, and I was shivering. He just stared at me; the same, dark-eyed stare. He could sense he wasn't wanted here anymore. I just wanted him to vanish, and to stop complicating things. I didn't want to be reminded of my past, I wanted to be able to live a normal life with my John…

'…I discovered a gap.' He said hesitantly, and rather dejectedly. 'Another gap linking the dimensions. Actually, it's not just the one gap, this has been the third one this week…'

He trailed off. I simply stared at him. He was probably just lonely, I thought, and was selfish enough to think I'd come back with him…

'I'm not coming back with you.' I said quietly, unblinking. He nodded.

'I know. This isn't about that; you can't get back as yet, anyway -'

'Then why are you here?'

He flinched a little at the challenging tone of my voice.

'Because this is _impossible_, Rose. The dimensions have been closed for good. This can't be happening again, it's illogical…but it keeps happening anyway.' he finished. 'I came back to ensure that there wasn't any danger, that's all.'

We stood there for another moment, motionless. He sighed.

'I'm not really here, you know that. I'm just a hologram; I'm orbiting Earth inside the Tardis for now.'

'But…don't you need a dying star or something to get enough power to send the transmission?' I asked, shaking my head. His eyes held something like fear in them for a moment, and he signed.

'That's just it, Rose. I don't need any power. The Tardis is doing it automatically.'

Dead pause.

'There's no danger here.' I replied eventually, shaken to the core. 'You can go now.'

* * *

It was half past four when my Doctor came home.

'Blimey, Rose, why aren't you in bed?' he asked, taking me by the shoulders and looking into my eyes as I approached him.

'Baby, I have to tell you –'

'What? What's the matter, what is it -'

'He came back to see me.' I couldn't take it anymore; tears were rolling down my cheeks. 'He said that there were gaps in the dimensions that were just letting him through without any trouble at all…'

'That's impossible.' he said firmly. 'He couldn't have left the Tardis, of course…'

He was more upset by this than me, and I knew it. As much as he would have hated to admit it, he was beginning to see his other self as a bitter rival.

'I'll never leave you.' I whispered, in his ear, holding him close. 'I will never, ever leave you, no matter what's happening.'


End file.
